Lazarus Magaya, Herentals Queens’ coach, has warned his players not to be complacent ahead of their next Group A match against Zambian champions the Green Buffaloes in Blantyre, Malawi, as part of the ongoing CAF Women’s Champions League|COSAFA.
The Zimbabwean debutants made a strong start to the tournament, winning 3-1 over FC Ongos Ladies of Namibia to take the lead in the standings with a better goal difference than Green Buffaloes, who defeated the University of Western Cape 1-0.
The two group leaders will face off on Saturday at noon at the Mpira Stadium, with the winner advancing to the semifinals, which will begin on August 22.
Magaya not worried about injuries
In a post-match reaction yesterday, Magaya revealed that the team’s plan in the first match was to get a positive result to build confidence heading into the next matches.
“I’m glad we started in a positive way; it gives confidence to the team, the sponsors, the country, and anyone who is following the team,” Magaya said. “Since we are debutants in the competition, it gives us much confidence for the next game. So what is left for us is to manage the recovery activities since we have seen three or four players have received knocks. We have depth; the other players who will come in will play like the ones that have picked knock, though I’m yet to receive the reports from the doctors.”
In regards to Green Buffaloes, Magaya has revealed the approach will be different from the Ongos gameplan, which was based on playing with high intensity to quickly unsettle their opponents in the opening stages.
Magaya says he will psych the players to ensure they do not get overconfident following a comfortable win on Thursday.
“We approach every game differently; the way we are going to apply in the next game will be different from this one, and we are going to psyche the players on the issue of overconfidence so that we can be found at fault that we win this game and lose the next two,” he stated.
